The Sacrifice of a Shadowwalker
by NinePittacus999
Summary: After escaping from the marshes where Eight was killed Nine, Six and Marina head out to find the others, but what happens when another Loric comes into the picture, a girl who has been banished from Lorien since she was 2 for a horrific power that no one understands, what happened to her Cepan, who is her strange adoptive father and most importantly, whose side is she on. Nines POV
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

I grimace as Marina placing her hands on my back, the familiar feeling of iciness creeps up my back healing the damage Five did to my back. Fury fills me at the thought or Five, the lying, cowardly, traitorous, bastard.

"Marina, about what happened with Eight, I am so sorry, if I hadn't taunted Five-" I begin.

"Just," Marina cuts me off, "leave it alone, it's not anyone's fault but Fives."

The cold feeling suddenly intensifies as Marina's hands tense on my back, as I regain the feeling in my legs Marina withdraws her hands and curls up in the back of our stolen vehicle, it being to dangerous to take my ride with Fives treachery. I exchange a concerned glance at Six at Marinas behaviour, not that I blame her, even I'm emotional about Eights death, and I wasn't in a complicated not-quite relationship with him.

"We're almost in Chicago, do you want to pull out the Glass Orbs that you think I don't know you took from Fours chest, let's find the others before anyone else dies." Six asks me.

I sigh and pull up my chest as Marina lets out a sob, I grab the glass orbs that I borrowed from four and threw them in the air. The solar system expanded around me, I zoomed into earth and located one dot moving south down to Dallas.

"Hey Six, we need to change course down to Dallas, that's where they're headed," I called up to her.

"Dallas!? What are they doing all the way down there?" Six practically screamed.

"They obviously felt the new scar, and remember, Five said they were attacking my penthouse, they probably had to move." In my head I add what we're all thinking, that maybe Johnny was the only one left, I really hope the kid is alright.

"Well, we've got a ways to go, try and get some sleep Nine," Six says after a brief pause.

I considered refusing, not wanting to seem weak, but she was right, I had my back broken, was nearly drowned twice, been in several fights, and had been running on an empty tank all day. I got as comfortable as I could in my seat and nodded off in seconds.

I groaned as I my head bashed against the car door, squinting in the sunlight I could just make out Marina in the drivers seat.

"Well whattaya know it lives." Marina jokes, although her voice was still hoarse and somewhat mellow, I decided to go with it.

"Hey, that was quite a rude awakening, care to enlighten me as to why you bashed my head against the wall?" I ask.

Marina tries to laugh but fails, rubbing at her mouth she replies, "What do you think Eight tried to say before he…before he….you know…"

I sigh and take a minute to run over what I want to say in my head as being sensitive to people's emotions is not one of my strong points.

"Before we left Eight and I had a little conversation on what we'd do if we were about to die and couldn't do anything about it, naturally I said fight nonetheless, but Eight….he was a bit more sincere. He said that he wanted to spend his last moments holding you, just talking; he said that he wanted his last words to you to be I love you." I reply, rushing the last bit, that was a bit of a white lie, but I don't think she could handle the real truth….especially while she was driving.

"I let her absorb that for a couple minutes before asking, "So where are we?"

"About 7 hours away" Marina quickly replies, "do you want to wake Six up, we should stop and rest soon."

We stopped at a rundown motel in St. Louis , and by rundown, mean falling apart, smelly, and rat infested. After checking in at the receptionist desk we went up to the third floor with Marina and Six sharing one room and me getting the room directly across. I thought it would take forever for me to fall asleep, but the second my head hit the pillow my eyes closed and I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

"NINE!" I jerk awake as Marina screams my name, "NINE COME QUICK!"

I shake away the last tendrils of sleep and run across the hallway expecting to find the girls in the middle of a heated battle, instead I run into a holographic planet and nearly piss myself, I stumble and fall on my ass right in front of a laughing Six.

"Oh thanks guys, make me think you're being horrifically murdered and laugh when I run into your perfectly harmless holographic planet," I shout, glaring at Six.

"Look at this Nine," Marina says urgently, ignoring Six and I.

I summon my dignity and get up, stalking over to Marina who was staring intently at the Earth, her eyes were puffy and red, and it looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep. I turned to look at the globe and was happy with what I found. Johnny had moved. He was in Arkansas, a mere 5 hours away from our position in St. Louis.

"Sweet, only a few hours away," I reply.

"No!" Marina persists, "he was still in Dallas a few seconds before you came in, I turned around to grab a tissue and when I turned around he'd moved! John can't teleport, so….you don't think…"

I knew what she meant, I didn't want to smash her hopes down but it simply wasn't possible for it to be Eight, so instead I said, "Well unless Johnny suddenly got and perfected a teleportation legacy I'm guessing the Mogs have something to do with this, which means we gotta move."

Six let out a breath I didn't realise she'd been holding, that's right Six, I thought, I can be sensitive to peoples feelings.

"Well then let's go!" Six says, "Go grab your crap Nine, we're heading to Arkansas."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter One**

Apparently car rides aren't the best time for me to try and sleep, I thought, after being brutally woken up by Six telekinetically punching me in the crotch, I whimpered and leaned forward to squint out the window and try and see through the darkness.

"Where are we Six?" I manage to groan.

"About three kilometres away from Four, get your shit together and wake up Marina," she replies.

"What," I mutter as I lean back to gently shake Marina awake, "she doesn't get a wake up punch too."

Suddenly Marina jerked up and grabbed my wrist, with a sharp twist I heard a loud crack and felt fire race up my arm.

I spent the next few seconds swearing like a sailor while Marina apologized and healed my shattered wrist.

"Suck it up Nine," Six yelled, "we're here."

Six eased the car behind a boulder and swung out her door, still swearing I pushed open my door and stepped out, catching my first glimpse of the Mog base.

"Oh mon dieu foutu, je détesté cette Mog racaille." I mutter, slipping into French at my horror at the base. It was about as large as the Dome in Toronto, only taller and completely built of stone, "Johnny, what have you done this time…"

"What the hell did you just say?" Six asks me somewhat rudely.

"Well sweetheart," I replied, "when I was little Sandor tried to teach me different languages I might need if we went to different countries, only little phrases like 'oh my fuckin god' and 'I hate this Mog scum' really stuck."

Six rolled her eyes and began pulling out her weaponry, she strapped knives to her arms and legs and through guns over her back and into various holsters on her belt, I was really starting to miss my pipe staff, I reached over and took a couple knives and two long swords while Marina armed herself with a vicious looking automatic rifle and a impressive array of knives, without a word the three of us started walking over to the base in plain sight with our weapons held out in front of us.

"So…" Marina said when we were about 100 metres from the base and about 200 Mogs marched out the entrance brandishing their guns and swords, "what's the plan, if you have one."

"Its simple really," I told her, "we bust in there, blow shit up, grab Johnny and everyone else with him, and swag walk our way right out the front door like we own the place." I waited for a response from the two girls but instead I got something slightly unexpected.

Six screamed, no it wasn't even a scream, it was a screech that grated on my ears, and I only got a partial hit, the Mogs in the front got the full blast and disintegrated instantly, the others behind them dropped their weapons and clenched their ears in agony.

"I'm gonna guess that Six just got a new legacy," Marina winced.

"Yup," I grimaced, "its called sound manipulation, normally its used for entertaining people through impersonation…naturally Six discovered a way to make it into a pretty kick ass weapon, now lets go kick some Mog scum into next year before they regain their hearing."

Six, Marina, and I charged across the clearing, I got to the Mogs first and began ripping my sword through Mogs who were still on their hands and knees with their hand gripping their bleeding ears, after making about 30 piles of ash I began to get to the Mogs who weren't as affected by Six's wail as the others, I began to get into the motions again, slash, block, stab, deflect, decapitate when I heard Marina scream.

"You!" she wailed, her voice noticeably filled with pain, "why would you come here, you're lucky I didn't kill you last time!"

I whipped around to see Five walking calmly into the clearing, the sight of the eye patch he was wearing making me happier then I care to admit, then he opened his big mouth and killed my mood.

"I can't believe you did that to me Marina, I said I was sorry," he muttered, "but I'm willing to forgive you, just come with me, save yourself and let me kill Nine and Six, they don't deserve to live, unlike you."

"Come here Five," Marina smirked, "I have something I wanna whisper in your ear."

"No!" Six yelled, after stabbing one of her knives through a Mogs ugly face, "Marina don't listen to him, he killed Eight!"

Five grinned and walked towards Marina crouching down so she could whisper something in his ear, with my super hearing I could hear exactly what she was saying.

"I want you to do something for me Five" she smiled, "Go rot in hell."

At her last word frost came out of her mouth, freezing Five's ear, as he screamed she whipped around and kicked him in the face, she pulled out a short knife and was about to drive it into Five's back when a red aura surrounded her, causing her to freeze in place.

"Well, well, well," a cruel voice cackled, "thanks for making my job easier for me."

I whipped around to face Setrakus Ra, with a yell I threw my sword at his ugly ass face…or I tried to, mid-throw the same red aura that surrounded Marina covered me and my body went so stiff that I couldn't move a muscle, I glance to the side showed me that Six was suffering the same condition.

"Come children, I wish to show you something that I think you'll find amusing," he sneered before strutting inside, the remaining Mogs moved at once to pick Six, Marina, and I up and move us indoors to follow him.

Within minutes we were pushed into a large cave and shoved to the ground, I looked up to see John, Sam, Malcolm, Ella, and some random younger looking Mog all on their knees enclosed in the red aura as well.

"Who the fuck is he?" I demand, needing to get my anger out at someone.

"This is Adam, Nine," Malcolm replies, "yes he is a Mog, but he saved Sam and I, and is on our side, he was hooked up to a machine where he accessed number One's memory, now she is inside him almost, she's given him one of her legacies."

While I worked that out in my head Setrakus Ra forced all the Mogs into the hall and moved to stand menacingly in front of us before pulling his double-ended whip out.

"I believe I have some maggots to dispose of, you gave me some trouble, I'll admit that," he grunted, "you have fought honourably, but now it is over."

I summoned all my strength and will power to move my head back and spit at his feet, with a growl he raised his whip behind his head and sneered at us, "goodbye, your legacy as the final Loric will last…well, at least until I wipe the miserable scum off this planet."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Two**

"Wow Setrakus, I've never pegged you as a coward, but I guess everyone's mistaken at some point in their lives" the cool voice said, a strong muscular girl stepped out of the shadows facing Setrakus, completely ignoring the Garde and I. She was wearing a hooded leather jacket which was pulled up over her eyes with a tight black tank top underneath, armoured Capri's, studded black gloves with the fingers cut off, and black combat boots. A black bandana covered the bottom half of her face and her long glossy black hair was pulled in a ponytail and rested over her left shoulder going down to her waist. I could tell right away that she was totally my kind of girl. She circled around Setrakus Ra with confident pose, her head high and shoulders back, Setrakus Ra not wanting his back to her began circling with her.

"I mean really, taking away their legacies and then continuing to use your own!? I didn't realize exactly how afraid of them you really are! Well, to bad for you, your coward's ploy won't work on me" the girl continued, she swept her hair over her shoulder to reveal a panel sewn into her jacket. Setrakus gave a little gasp of surprise and she smirked.

"That's right; my cepan taught me how to make one of these before he died, unfortunately for you."

I finally caught on that this girl was a fellow Loric.

"Oh don't worry, I still have plenty of tricks up my sleeve to bring you to your knees, I wonder how your darling daddy will feel once I've slaughtered you." Setrakus replied.

The girl cocked her head to the side as if she was listening to a voice inside her head, then all of a sudden she started to laugh.

"Oh that's cute, your little mind-games won't work on me, its time you learn what _real _compulsion looks like."

Setrakus looked down at his hand, it was shakily moving up towards his face, and suddenly he slapped himself.

"I could do the whole 'why are you hitting yourself' thing, but I think you get the point." The girl laughed.

Setrakus looked at her warily. I was beginning to gain a whole lot of respect for this Loric girl, not only had she mocked the strongest Mogadorian in history, but she'd beat him at his own game with ease.

"That makes you nervous, doesn't it Setrakus" she persisted, "Well I can do much more then that, watch this."

The girl lifted up her right leg and slammed it down into the rocky earth beneath her. An earthquake rocked the ground at Setrakus' feet causing him to stumble and fall, when it stopped he hurriedly got to his feet trying to look as dignified as possible. The girl had crossed her arms and tilted one hip to the side which made her look even sexier than before.

"Seismic waves are lots of fun, aren't they?" she said, "but I don't just rely on my legacies, combat is my personal favourite way to kill you mogs," she had begun circling again and pulled out a shining black dagger which she expertly twirled between her fingers in a way I hadn't seen in a very long time, she used the exact same technique Sandor had. "Who doesn't like that rush of pure adrenaline, fighting is like my own personal drug- a high that only comes from plunging my blade into a mog. It fills me up, and I love it. Now I intend to get that same high from you!"

At her last word the girl threw her dagger at Setrakus, it whipped through the air and sank into his eye socket. The hilt began to glow silver as Setrakus roared in pain, he brought his hands up and seized the glowing hilt. A sizzling sound followed and he yanked his badly burned hand away, but the sound didn't stop, all around his eye began to smoke and blacken. Now in excruciating pain Setrakus grabbed the hilt and yanked it out throwing it across the room where the girl leaped through the air gracefully and snatched it out of the air. Beside me I could hear Six gasp and whisper something along the lines of 'holy shit that girl is amazing.'

"This is one of my personal favourites, it recognizes Mogadorians by touch and, as you just found out, grows searing hot" the girl sniggered, but even as she talked Setrakus Ra was starting to heal.

Setrakus grumbled something unintelligible and raised his whip in the air, clearly mad that this girl was beating him and had the nerve to laugh about it, he brought his whip down with a snap…but the girl wasn't there, she was laughing behind him.

"Oh ya, did I forget to mention the fact that I have super speed?" she asked with mock seriousness, "my bad."

The girl began to run in a circle around Setrakus, so fast she was a blur, Setrakus tried to keep up with her movements to no avail. I was a little pleased to share a legacy with this remarkable girl; suddenly she leapt up behind him and grabbed him by his ugly head. I could see all the muscles in her back ripple as she flipped her legs over top of his head and slammed both feet into his nose, she then kicked off his face, did a flip through the air and did a somersault to her feet.

I can't do that, Sandor drilled me and drilled me but I just couldn't keep my movement precise and graceful enough. I was beginning to feel like I might have just been usurped for the position of best fighter by a girl.

"How 'bout a little hand-on-hand big guy," she suggested, "no weapons, legacies allowed, dirty tricks encouraged."

"Setrakus sneered and threw his whip to the side, "I hope you know what you're getting into little girl, or all the Garde may be dead very _very_ soon."

"Don't worry old man," the girl replied as she ran towards Setrakus, she feinted a punch and leapt up to kick Setrakus' head back, using her momentum she flipped and landed in front of him, immediately the ground started to shake, "if you ask politely I'll go easy on you."

Setrakus growled and charged her; they began a pattern of block, strike, and parry. Occasionally one of them would land a blow, but the girls were more frequent, it was clear she was just toying with him. When Setrakus threw a right hook towards her I wasn't concerned, she could easily step-side like she'd done with all his other punches, but instead she stepped into it! She proficiently absorbed the impact but the force still sent her flying. She hit the far wall… and kept going! The girl had soared completely through the wall; Setrakus stared around the room frantically, swearing under his breath.

"That's right," the girls laughing voice came from the wall behind Setrakus, who whipped around to face it, "you thought you killed everyone capable of shadowwalking, let alone everyone competent of Shadowwalking to the first degree, guess you were wrong, you sent three battalions of mogs to my house on Lorien, to bad I was already gone, my mom, dad, and brother killed 2 battalions and a half before they were brought down. Which was why you targeted us, isn't it, we're a total bitch to kill and we bring down a whole shit-load of you mogs with us." The girl was circling around the room as she talked; abruptly she walked, no melted out of the wall Setrakus was facing.

"You killed my entire family and my planet in cold blood, and then you hunted down my remaining fellow Loric and killed 1, 2, 3, and 8 who were mere children like the cowardly bastard you are. I promise on my life, my fellow Loric, the children who you killed, and the sacrifices the _real_ elders made to keep us alive, I will kill you and as many mog scum I can get my hands on. I will slaughter you, and you have my word that if I go down, you're coming with me." Somewhere in the middle of her speech she began to fly upwards until she was level with Setrakus' face, which had a mixture of shock and horror written all over it.

"Oh you better be afraid, cause you ain't seen nothin' yet" the girl snarled, shaking with rage. If I hadn't been completely impressed by her before, I was now, she'd put so much anger and fury into her oath that I'm astonished Setrakus didn't hightail it out of here. She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and clenched her hands into fists. All of a sudden her eyes shot open, her right eye had fire scorching in it, almost white hot. Her left eye was filled with water, which churned around and burned like the fires of her right eye. She flicked open her right hand but kept it scrunched like a claw, flames blazed at her fingertips, she gracefully opened her left hand sweeping it through the air she seemed to pull water out of the atmosphere which she swirled into a ball that she held in her palm. She smiled at the look of fear on Setrakus' face then slammed her hands together. Water and fire rocketed towards Setrakus Ra, it swirled around him and expanded until he was completely surrounded by water and fire. After a couple minutes the girl released the ball allowing the fire to go out and the water to evaporate back into the air. Setrakus collapsed to the ground spitting out water with his skin bubbled up with burns. He shook his head and began to regenerate, but much more slowly than before.

"A first degree Shadowwalker and a level one Elementalist, nasty combo don't ya think. Out of every 10,000 Loric one can manipulate the elements at that degree, ten out of the entire population could shadowwalk, and you thought it was impossible." Wind whipped her hair around a she talked, it caused Setrakus to stagger. "there's a reason level one Elementalists were respected among the Loric and feared among you mogs, we can control the ground at your feet, the fire that comes out of your guns, the water you drink, and the very air you breathe, what do you do when all that turns against you?" the girl asked as she brought her hands up at her sides.

"I'll tell you the answer, you run like hell." She brought her hands up above her head and a sheet of rock around him, she brought her hands slamming back down and a piece of the ceiling came down and sealed the cage.

Silence. Every muscle in my body was tense as I waited for the telltale signs that this wasn't over, the roar of anger, cracks in the walls of the cage, rumbling of the ground beneath us, but none came. Setrakus Ra was captured.

The girl wasn't entirely convinced; she lit her hands on fire and let them go white hot as she stalked toward the cage. Using the fire she melted the seems of the rock cage and then summoned water to cool them back down, when she had finished and the cage was airtight and wielded to the ground I could feel my legacies return to me.

I immediately unlocked my shackles with telekinesis and shot to my feet. Everyone else did the same and someone helped Ella, Adam, Malcolm, and Sam. The girl jumped down off the cage and walked over to us. She pulled down the bandana that covered her face and pulled off her hood. She was beautiful to say the least, she had stormy blue eyes, a sharp angular tanned face with a small nose and mouth, the only feature that marred her face was a jagged scar the went from the right side of her forehead, over her right eye, and stopped at the corner of her mouth.

"As hot as you are," I began, ignoring my fellow Garde's groans, "I have to ask, who the hell are you?'

"Is that anyway to treat your saviour and a fellow Loric powerful enough to scare and trap Setrakus Ra?" she replied, "I'm just fuckin' with ya, I'm a Loric, I'm 17, I've been called many names. The mogs call me Eleven, She-demon, and Azara. My adoptive dad calls me Tzila, my cepan…he used to call me Nyxeria, and my birth name is Ohanzee, but I prefer Tzila. Right now I'm saving your untrustworthy asses, if you want to be a sceptic –feel free- you can sit here and wonder why I saved you from being slaughtered by Setrakus Ra and what my alternative motives must be and wait for Setrakus to break out, or for his army of mogs to arrive to kill you. If you want to live however, follow me."

Tzila turned around and began walking to the doors, I was a bit upset that she thought I couldn't save my own ass, but one look at her own tight sexy ass and I decided to let it slide. Abruptly Tzila turned around to face us.

"To you two," she said pointing at Six and Marina, "thank you, my dad and I can teach you all those fighting techniques when we get to my base. To you," she said, pointing at Ella, "mind control is a rare legacy but I can tell that one of you posses it. Four, there is a legacy called Intangibility, or phasing, but it is not as powerful as shadowwalking, a Loric is born with the ability to shadowwalk, it's not a legacy."

A smirk crosses my face at the look of disappointment on Johnny's face.

"And you," Tzila says pointing at me, "I did save your ass, you couldn't or you would've saved it earlier saving me the work. Oh, and you pervert."

"B-but," I stammer, completely shocked with how she knew exactly what we all were thinking.

"Mindreading comes with mind control, normally I only read my enemies but I'm reading all of you to make sure you don't do anything particularly stupid that will get you killed and to make sure that mog boy over here really is on our side, which he is, Nine." she replied.

I could tell I wasn't the only one completely offended by this and somewhat concerned, I was trying to clear my mind of everything about Tzila somewhat unsuccessfully when I heard it.

"We've got company," I say, "We've got a lot of company."

"How many are there?" Six asks, as serious as ever.

"I'm sensing about 1742 minds" Tzila cuts in, "and counting."

I can practically feel the fear radiating off the others, even I have to admit that's way too many for us to fight.

"Well, follow me," Tzila says, jogging towards the doors, "no one step in front of me unless you have a death wish."

We all have time to catch up and voice our protest, Six calling her crazy, before she kicks the double doors open.

The first thought I have when I see the sheer amount of mogs, Kraul, Pixen, and all the cannon barrels facing us is 'God Dammit she's killed us all.' The mogs waste no time in opening fire and I have just enough time to tuck and roll, put up a patchy telekinesis shield and brace for the pain of my body tearing apart, only the pain never comes. I look up to see Tzila standing over top of me with both hands thrown in front of her, a glowing green shield at her fingertips protecting us all, bullets and fire rebound back upon the army, Pixen and Kraul disintegrate on contact, Tzila smirks despite the sweat pouring down her face and begins to walk forwards.

The real chaos start when the shield hit the front line of mogs, they scream in anguish and incinerate leaving piles of ash behind. The mogs begin to panic and run down the two halls that fork off this one, when we get to the fork Tzila doesn't pick one, instead she focus' on the rock wall in front of her. The rock begins to shift and leave a hole moving to cover the halls on either side of us. Tzila drops the shield and starts to run.

We run until we reach a black van, Tzila throws a set of keys at me.

"Drive north, don't stop, take shifts, and don't touch the goddamn weapons," she commands, facing the mog base.

She raises her hands up, jumps up, and slams both her feet and her hands into the ground. Colossal earthquakes shake the base, Tzila raises her arms up as the building begins to collapse and some of the surrounding rock starts to cover the base. Minutes later and all that's left is a flat plain of dirt. Setrakus Ra and his mogs buried alive under tonnes upon tonnes of rock and cement.

"That-that was amazing," I manage to say; voicing what I'm sure everyone else is thinking.

Tzila slowly lets her hands fall back at her sides, I can see her knees shaking as she sways back and forth. I walk up behind her, concerned for the strong Loric girl who just saved my life.

"Sure was," she agrees with a weak voice, "never used my legacies that much in such a short amount of time before... Goodnight.'

Her eyes roll back into her head and she goes limp, collapsing to the ground, I lunge and catch her before she hits. I carry her around to the passenger seat trying to ignore how soft her hair felt against my cheek, how warm her skin is, and how muscular she is as I strap her in. I hop in the driver's seat as the others pile into the back; I step on the gas and begin to drive north.

I had been driving for a couple hours now, leaving the wreaked mog base miles away, I looked across at the powerful Loric beside me who I had been thinking about constantly and was shocked to realize exactly how whipped I am, I was feeling something I hadn't felt since Maddy. For the first time in my life I had fallen for a gorgeous, strapping, strong willed girl who was completely out of my league, if only Sandor could see me now, I could practically hear his chuckling voice chiding me, 'Now my young ward, what do you intend to do now that you must use your brain instead of your brawn to get your girl.'


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter two**

Tzila woke up a few hours later; she bolted awake and punched me on the arm. Hard. I yelled in pain and surprise and swerved to the other side of the road; I righted the van and thanked the Elders that we were on a deserted road.

"What the hells going on up there!?" Six yelled up.

"Don't worry sweetheart, apparently Tzila has a tendency to bolt awake rather violently," I called back.

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Six snarled back, I started to laugh but stopped when I got a telekinetic punch in the gut.

"Where are we?" Tzila asked, rubbing her head.

"About 350 km away from the base," I replied coolly.

"How long was I out?" She inquired, very confused.

"About four hours," I replied warily.

"FOUR HOURS!" She yelled.

"Its not that bad-" I started.

"Pull the goddamn car over," she ordered.

I quickly stopped at the side of the road as Tzila threw open her door, she stomped around the van and yanked open my door.

"Out," she commanded.

I jumped out and scrambled around to the passenger side as Tzila put the car in gear and slammed her foot on the gas before I had even fully closed the door, she kept the pedal down as we climbed to 170 km per hour.

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'pedal to the metal' before, if we have to drive without stopping that also mean we're hustling our asses, we should be at least 680 km away by now," the speedometer was pushing 190, "I'll just have to compensate."

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but when are we going to stop," I whisper to the furious Loric beside me as our speed increased further.

"When we're 1250 km away we'll start looking for a place to rest," Tzila growled, speeding up to 280, 290, 300.

I decided it would be best for me to just close my eyes and hold on for dear life as Tzila raced down the road.

About two and a half hours later Tzila pulled over at a crummy looking motel, now I was really missing my penthouse. I clambered out of the car and went around to the back to let everyone out, I pulled open the heavy double doors and my jaw fell open in shock, John, Six, Marina, Ella, Sam, Sarah, Malcolm, and Adam were seated amongst the most impressive array of weaponry I have ever seen. Loric, human, and Mogadorian weapons lined the walls, ceiling, and filled shelves over and below the seats. Swords, knives, guns, ammo, and other weapons glistened in the light, even a pipe staff like the one I had before Five broke it.

"Close your mouth Nine," Six joked, "you'll catch flies," she pushed past me and carrying a very sleepy Ella in her arms.

After everyone exited the van I turned back to get a better look at the pipe staff.

"See something ya like?" Tzila asked jumping into the van, she followed my gaze to the staff and smiled, "the pipe staff eh? It's not my first choice of weapon, but this ones special." She lifted it from the rack it was sitting on and it expanded to full size, about a foot and a half longer than my old one, it glowed a bright blue that lit up Tzila's face.

"This ones got some extra features than most, for example," she jumped down and walked over to a tree, she swung the staff at the tree and it disintegrated on contact, she whipped around and pointed it at an abandoned building and lightning shot out of the tip blackening the wall, turning back to me she smirked and said "this is my favourite part," she held up the staff and clicked a button on the side, instantly it turned a dark blue and expanded more before splitting in half, part of it remaining in Tzila's hands, the other shooting away attacking tree's across the clearing.

"Doubles your offence and keeps you open to use telekinesis, its also indestructible," Tzila says proudly, she clicks the button again and the staff joining together, turning back to the bright blue it started out as, she then shrinks it down to pocket size. Tzila walks back over to me and holds out the staff.

"It takes practice and a lot of concentration," she smiles, "but I think you can manage not to kill yourself," she pushed it into my hands, her fingers brushing my hands and stepped back towards the van. I was in the process of deciding whether to take that as a compliment or an insult when Marina threw open the motel doors.

"Six got four single rooms, we're gonna have to double up," she said cheerfully.

"That's fine," Tzila smiled, "so what are your legacies?"

"Uh, healing, night vision, telekinesis, aquatic respiration, and…well I don't really know what to call it, I can make it colder…" Marina replied warily.

"Ah, Cyrokinesis," Tzila trails off as she jumped back into the van and began rummaging through some of the shelves before pulling out a gleaming, silver, double bladed sword.

"I call her Glacialis, her handle is made of a very special Loric stone that forms a connection between your hand and the sword so no matter how slippery or icy it gets you will never lose your grip…it also has some other rather useful tricks," Tzila jumped out of the van again, she strode over to the nearest tree and tapped it with one end of the sword, I watched in awe as the entire tree was encased in a thick layer of ice, Tzila then twisted the hilt in opposite directions and pulled the sword into two separate daggars which she expertly twirled between her fingers before shattering the tree with two powerful slashes. She then snapped the daggers back together to form the single sword and turned back to Marina and me.

"Also, when you want it to it'll do this," she said, she glanced at the blades and as fast as lightning sheathes snapped down from the hilt and the sword shrunk down to be less then a foot long, Tzila lightly grabbed Marinas arm and rolled up her sleeve, strapping it to her forearm.

"T-thank you," Marina stuttered, still in awe at the sword.

"Oh, and one more thing," Tzila ran back to the van and dragged out a black duffel bag and pulled out a silver Loric pendent.

"Put that on your necklace, it expands to full body armour when you touch it with your pointer finger, this one is tailored to your legacies, for example: yours won't freeze when you use your cyrokinesis, and when you start healing someone it'll eject a shield that will cover both you and the person your healing, this armour is high grade but won't protect you 100% from the more powerful Mog weapons."

Marina took the pendent gratefully and began to walk inside.

"Send out everyone else for me!" Tzila yelled out.

"Sure thing," Marina called back.

I stood there awkwardly as Tzila rifled through her weapons and other gear separating an assortment of guns, swords, and other weapon into a pile near the door.

"W-what is it Tzila," Ella says as she shuffles outside, rubbing her eyes with her little fists, I could barely contain my excitement at the fact that the kid was awake and well, but I decided to let her wake up fully before I give her a bear hug.

"How would you like your own weapon?" Tzila asks her while casting me a knowing glance."

"Oh I'd love one!" Ella replies gleefully-visibly more perked up.

"Based on your legacies I think you should use these," Tzila grinned.

She pulled out a gleaming white bow and a quiver of arrows and handed them to the girl.

"These are special arrows, they'll return to your quiver after you've shot them. Also take these," she said selecting three dainty looking white knives, "I'll give you some training later, and take this, its full body armour, put it on your necklace, it'll protect you," she handed Ella a little white Loric pendent, Ella happily skipped inside the motel with her new gear.

"Now how about you John, lets see," Tzila thought for a second before pulling out a long green sword with a wickedly curved blade.

"This is also a little more special than your average sword, it'll catch fire when you use your pyrokinesis and if you lose it or it's stolen it will return to your sheath…eventually," she says as she tosses Johnny the sword and a little green pendent, he attaches the sword to his waist grinning profusely before lightly pushing Six forward.

"Hmm, well what am I gonna do for you Six?" Tzila start before rummaging through her collection, "Oh, how about this bad boy," she pulls out a malevolent looking double-ended chain whip that was glowing red with power, with only flick of her wrist a nearby tree incinerated, "it also does this," Tzila exclaims excitedly, she pressed a button on the hilt and the double ends of the whip ejected sharp blades at regular one inch intervals, also a dagger slipped from the hilt into Tzila's waiting hand, she slipped the knife back into the hilt and retracted the blades with a press of the button before tossing it down to Six along with a red pendent, Six quickly attached her whip to her belt before sprinting inside whooping with glee leaving poor Johnny boy staggering along behind her trying to keep up with her.

"For you two I'm feeling these beauties," Tzila laughed, tossing Sam and Malcolm each two automatic pistols.

"And Adam, how would like to try these out," she pulled out her last weapons, two gleaming Mog swords that hummed with power, "I've tricked these out with s combo of human and Loric technology, I think you'll like 'em"

She adjusted her grip to hold the blades and extended the hilts to Adam who accepted them silently, I tensed waiting for him to attack her while Tzila continued to talk completely unconcerned with the now highly armed Mogadorian, I didn't care that he wasn't a soldier, he's a Mog and he's not some child, he was at least 18, definitely a threat.

"I modified the Mogadorian technology of pulling energy from your surroundings and altered it by making them pull energy from your enemies slowly draining them wile your power increases, also it'll leave an energy trail that's corrosive to Mogs, of course it won't harm you as long as you keep holding that handle," she smiled.

Adam nodded and strapped the swords to his belt before saying thank you and following Sam and his Dad inside, casting a nervous glance at me over his shoulder.

"Adam! Hold up for a sec," Tzila called out suddenly, jumping down from the van and closing the doors, Adam turned and looked at her confused.

"I…I kinda saw something I shouldn't have when I first met you, I didn't mean to find it but I had to make sure you weren't a threat…I sort of went through your memories…" she went silent but kept her eyes locked on Adams, his eyes sort of glazed over and it almost looked like he was about to cry, " Here, take this," she said before taking Adams hand and pushing a gold Loric pendent into his hand, "it was supposed to be for One," she continued, "but I think she'd want you to have it."

This time I definitely saw a tear slide down Adams face, he managed to get out a thank you before shuffling inside; holding the pendent in his hand like it would shatter at any moment.

"What the hell was that about?" I asked, dumbfounded at the exchange.

"Its none of your concern," Tzila said sternly, crouching down to look in her duffel bag, she straightened and held out a blue pendent to me, "this ones yours," she said slipping in into my hand before walking inside. I stood there like an idiot for a couple seconds, was it my imagination or did her hand linger on mine a little more then necessary, her fingers left a tingly sensation on my palm and I longed for her hand on mine again. Sighing I shouldered my new pipe staff and slipped off my necklace, attaching the new pendent as I walked inside.

As I slipped inside I saw Tzila and Six talking, I only managed to catch the last couple words they exchanged, "are you sure you're okay with it," Six was asking, Tzila nodded and pushed Six away before turning to me.

"So," she began, "of our four rooms, one is being shared by Six and Four, another has Ella and Marina, and the third has Sam, Malcolm, and Adam…That leaves you and me in the fourth, of course not if you aren't okay with it, I'm more then amiable with sharing with Ella and Marina and you can have your own room-"

"No we can share," I quickly replied, her eyebrow shot up with my rather sharp response, "I mean, I wouldn't wanna make another group of three and hog one room to myself," I added hastily. She shrugged and sprinted upstairs, taking two steps at a time leaving me in the lobby.

"Great job Nine," I scolded myself, "absolutely perfect, since when do you suck at talking to girls."

I followed her upstairs and used my super hearing to find what room she was in, opening the door I found Tzila had already crawled into the only bed, shrugging off my gear and weapons I went over to the side of the bed, wondering if I should get in beside her or go and sleep on the couch.

"Oh just get in," she muttered, "we're gonna be on the run together smart one, might as well get used to each other now."

I took a deep breath before pulling back the covers and getting in beside her, the close proximity to her was making my heart race, I tried to slow my breathing to match hers as I began to slowly nod off, I couldn't help but think how lucky I was that Six only got four rooms.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Four**

When I woke up Tzila was gone, naturally I panicked, I leaped out of bed and ran around our room looking for her, her side of the bed was still warm but she was no where to be found, then I heard yelling outside our window. I sprinted over and threw open our curtains, swung the sliding glass door open, and ran out onto the balcony only to have my cheek and forehead sliced open by something really cold, immediately blood started flowing down my face and into my eyes, blinding me.

"OH MY GOSH! NINE I AM SO SORRY!" I hear someone scream, I wipe the blood out of my eyes to see Marina sprinting towards me with Tzila laughing in the background, my confusion only grew when I couldn't find any Mogs, only ice smashed all over the ground melting into puddles.

I vaulted over the railing and landed easily on the ground, allowing Marina to heal the cuts on my face while watching Tzila smiling behind her.

"May I ask you what you two were doing?" I ask once she had finished.

"Um, Tzila was helping me develop my cyrokinesis, l-look what I can do now," Marina said sheepishly, she held out her hand and allowed a razor sharp icicle form in her palm.

"So that's what nailed me, good job Marina," I complimented her, "you've got a good arm."

"Marina, how about you go wake up everyone else and we can start training while Nine here tells me which legacies he has," Tzila says smiling, walking towards me.

"Okay," Marina replies, "I'd love to!" She rushed off to the motel.

"So…" I started, "you wanna know what legacies I have?"

"Well I could just force my way into that little brain of yours, but I think you'd prefer it if I just asked," she laughed.

"How about I just tell you," I said quickly, thinking about all my feeling that I'd really rather she not discover, "I've got animal telepathy, anti-gravity, legacy transference, super hearing, super strength, and super speed."

"Ah, while here's something you don't know, all your 'supers' are really one legacy, it's a physical enhancement legacy, its one of the legacies that has three levels, you've got the first level which includes strength, speed, and hearing enhancements, the second level has speed and hearing, and the third level is just a hearing enhancement." She said, "its kinda like my mind control legacy, there's four levels to that, telepathy is the fourth, add sensior and you've got the third, mind reading is the second, and compulsion makes the first."

I was excited now, "which other legacies have that?" I ask eagerly.

"Well the only other ones I know of are elemental control which has two levels, the second controls elements like wind and water which you can use to create static electric charges in the air and make electrical storms, the first in your basic four elements, earth, fire, water, air…."she trailed off, "my shadowwalking has three levels too, the first is just like the legacy intangibility, only a little darker…you literally turn to shadow…the second brings the walking part in, you can walk through walls with much more efficiency then a Loric capable of intangibility…the third is the really dark part…the part that caused the elders to banish me and the others…" her gaze got distant and she looked off into the fields spreading out next to the motel, I was about to ask what this dark first level power to shadowwalking was and more importantly, if she had it, when Six vaulted off the balcony to join us, Tzila snapped out of her trance and went off to greet her while Adam, Malcolm, John, Sam, Ella, and Marina joined us using the conventional method of walking out the front door.

"So Tzila," Ella yelled merrily, "you haven't told us anything about yourself! When did you get here? You certainly didn't come on my ship, and you didn't come on everyone else's."

"Well the reason why I'm on this planet and not rotting with the rest of Lorien is because of my Shadowwalking, you see its extremely rare and no one really knows anything about it other then the fact that its really dark and dangerous to the person who has it and the people around them," Tzila says, "I first showed signs of having the skill when I was about four and I turned to shadow the first time, my parents weren't there at the time, only the sitter and naturally she freaked out and took me straight to the Elders, one week later I was on a one-way trip to Earth. By the time the ship landed on Earth I was five years old, they landed in a desolate area in Europe where the pilots pretty much kicked me off the ship and left me there, completely alone. I walked around in shock for a couple days before Edmund found me. I was walking down this deserted dirt road and collapsed from dehydration, when I woke up I was in this amazing looking house, the walls were just covered in weapons," Tzila paused for a second to compose herself before continuing.

"He came in the door then, naturally I flipped out and whipped the closest thing I could reach at his face, fortunately the thing I grabbed was a shield, Edmund easily grabbed that straight out of the air and made some joke about how violent I was already even though I was only five. Then he told me his story, you see Edmund was a Shadowwalker too, only his parents hid his 'gift' as long as possible so he was banished from Lorien at the age of eight, he was 20 at the time he rescued me so he was the oldest Shadowwalker ever recorded."

"Wait," Six interrupted, "why so low, I mean I get that you all got kicked off Lorien but they had to discover that your powers were a little dark somehow."

"Well even without the banishment law our life expectancy would be low, you develop the power similar to intangibility at a very young age and children have somewhat of a smaller concentration level and if you drop your concentration when you're inside an object…anyways, Edmund started training me and for three long years we were as happy as could be, he had unofficially become my cepan and I couldn't be happier, then we were captured, I made it out off the base, Eddy didn't," Tzila choked up her and I was about to recommend that she take a break or stop, but true to her nature she pushed on, "I guess you could say I had a six year long rage quit after that, from the age of eight to 14 I travelled around destroying Mog bases as my legacies began to develop, then Devdan found me, after hearing my story he adopted me, fast-forward four years and I happen to stumble across the remaining garde about to be executed in the base I was raiding, it was actually a total accident that I saved you."

There was a pause before Marina asked, "So, back at the base, were those all your legacies?"

"So as you know, I have seismic waves, force fields, flight, I'm a first level mind controller so I have telepathy, sensior, compulsion, and I can read minds, I'm a level one Elementalist so I can control fire, water, air, and earth, and I have the enhancement legacy for speed, strength, and hearing." She replied.

"Whoa," Ella says, "that's so cool; you're like, a super Loric!"

"I guess you could say that," Tzila laughs before grabbing Ella and tickling her, Ella screamed and started thrashing around in her arms, begging release; I decided to take this as an opportunity.

"I'll save you Ella," I yelled as I grabbed Tzila around the waist and spun her around, then it all went horribly wrong, Tzila let go of Ella and twisted around in my grip, the next thing I knew I was pinned down with my face pressed into the dirt.

"You have got to teach me that," Six said in awe.

"Good idea Six," Tzila says, "We'll split into pairs, John and Nine, Six and Marina, Sam, Malcolm, and Adam, and Ella, go get your knives, you're with me."

I skulked across the clearing and went to train with Johnny, not entirely focused on our fight I was repeatedly slammed into the earth.

The fifth time he pinned me Johnny whispered in my ear, "just tell her how you feel, man," I snorted and he continued, "well at least focus on our fight instead of letting you repeatedly see you get your ass kicked."

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right, but before I had the chance to beat his sorry ass Tzila shouted across the clearing.

"Okay guys, team fight and then hit the road, we've got places to be, people to meet, and Mogs to destroy, lets have Nine, Adam, John, and Sam on one team, Ella, Six, Marina and I on the other, sorry Malcolm but I think you're gonna have to sit this one out."

Malcolm nodded and stepped off to the side as we took our places on either side of the clearing.

"No weapons, legacies allowed, no killing each other," Malcolm yelled, "ready? Go!"

The rest of the guys and I charged over to the girls, Johnny against Six, Adam against Marina, Sam against Ella, leaving me against Tzila, shit.

Tzila was walking calmly towards me so I slowed my pace to meet hers, all around me fights were going on, Ella slammed Sam to the ground before running to join the fight between Adam and Marina, Marina hit the dirt right before Ella jumped on Adams back, Adam didn't even try to fight but instead grabbed his head and started screaming, "get out of my head!" Ella easily pinned him and ran to join Six and John but before she got there Six unloaded a massive blast of wind blowing Johnny back into the motel and catching Ella with it, she yelled and ran over to the girl repeating her apologies frantically.

Tzila grinned at me, it was just the two of us now, and I had to win this for the guys. Tzila started to charge me, right before she got to me she stamped her foot and the ground beneath my started to shake, as she dived on me I rolled back, pulling her with me, but before I could put her in any sort of a hold my head exploded, she was using her telepathy to scream in my head, I threw her off me and clutched my ears in agony.

"That's a little trick I taught Ella," Tzila smiled, "telepathy is more useful then you think, isn't it."

I had a different word I would have chosen to describe it as my exploded in excruciating pain, then as quickly as it had started, it stopped. I straightened and glared at Tzila before throwing myself into the fight. She was good, remarkably good actually, one second she would be on her feet, the next she'd be flipped overtop of me with both hand on my shoulders, she kept an iron grip on me and arched her back flipping me around and slamming me onto the ground while she landed in a crouch with her face inches from mine.

"Nice try," she whispered, she released my aching shoulders and stood up, "okay people, let's go pack up and head out."

I hauled myself up off the ground painfully and watched Tzila sprint away, her long black hair bobbing back and forth in its ponytail; Marina quickly healed my poor shoulders.

When I got to our room Tzila was on her way out, I hurriedly lowered my gaze in embarrassment.

"Hey, don't worry about it," she told me, "I currently have more legacies then you so it wasn't really fair anyways, the next time we stop we'll have a rematch, no legacies this time," I looked up to see her eyes glinting mischievously, "we can make it a contest, if I win I get to see that healing stone of yours, what do you want."

It took me no time to come up with a response, "I want a kiss, on the lips," I added quickly.

"Sure thing," Tzila laughed, "it's a deal."

Suddenly my heart jumped up in my throat, "Oh my god! Where's my chest!" I screamed.

"Don't worry," Tzila said, "I grabbed those on my way into the base, I stashed the two chests I found into my van."

Instantly I launched myself forward and grabbed her around the waist, I spun her around in tight circles using my super speed as she giggled hysterically asking me to stop before she got too dizzy, her nails digging into my shoulders.

"Stop it, please put me down," she laughed, "C'mon, please Eddy!"

She stopped giggling and tensed up, I quickly put her down; her eyes were swimming with tears, my heart melted instantaneously.

"I-I'm sorry, its just Eddy…he always used to do that to me…I just…" she choked up, her hands covering her face.

"I'm so sorry about your cepan, I know all about losing your cepan, I probably had the worst experience out of all of us," I tried to comfort her.

She stopped dead, glaring up at me she whispered through her teeth, "I know all about your cepans death, they made me watch in the next room, but as horrible as that was for you, always remember that there's someone worse off, I went through total hell which made your cepans death look like nothing."

She stormed off towards the motel, literally, the wind and dust picked up around her as she stomped away from me; I tried to grab her hand but was buffeted back by the strong gusts.

She whipped around and faced me, dust streaked tears running down her face, "I-I need to kill something, I'm gonna head go back and try and head off the Mogs, buy you guys some more time, head straight to the Canadian border, I'll meet you there."

About halfway through this the other came through the motel doors, aghast at her statement, I needed to fix this, "look I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you I promise, don't do this, you could die, and even if you don't how will you find us?" I asked her.

"Just trust me, I've got this," she spun on the ball of her feet and sprinted off, leaving us in a cloud of dust, before anyone could say a word Six stomped up to me and slapped me across the face. Hard.

"What the hell did you say to her!" she screeched.

I just turned and strode to the van, slamming the door shut I put it in gear and called out the window, "are you all coming or not," I trusted her, I thought, if she said she could find us, she could find us, I just had to do exactly what she said, ignoring Six's somewhat rude comments I hit the gas and we sped away.

After about ten minutes of silence Ella's little voice sounded, "John, what happened to Sarah?"

I looked in the mirror to see Johnny hanging his head, something bad must have happened to that cute little blond.

"Well, we were camped out in this hotel in St. Louis, they came for us in the night, we all woke up to her screaming, before I could do more then sit up I was covered in that horrible red mist stuff, couldn't move a muscle, Setrakus Ra was right there at the foot of the bed holding Sarah by the neck, h-he made us watch as he slowly put shallow cuts up her arms, right before he killed her he told me…he told me that she'd been selling them information right after she met me, she's the reason Henri got killed, and then…then he just smiled, this awful grin that made me wanna throttle him, as she screamed how sorry she was and that he made her do it or they'd have killed her family…he took out these knives, he made a tiny little cut on her pinkie finger, instantly the skin around it turned black, she was screaming in agony, it made its way up her arm slowly, almost like tendrils, within an hour it was at her elbow, then it was her shoulder, and eventually…it made it to her heart…she was screaming and whimpering the whole time, a whole 5 hours…then he took us to that base."

I tried to process that as Six wrapped her arm over Johnny's shoulder as he cried, god I hope the rest of this trip is silent, I can only show a certain amount of emotion per day, and I'd already gone over my weeks limit. I just wish Sandor could've been here to help, I have absolutely no idea what to do next, kill off some Mogs, kill Setrakus Ra, find our ships, and even if we do that, how are we supposed to restore Lorien? I know it has something to do with these phoenix stones, but currently we only have three, some soil, water that makes Loralite, and wind, how the hell can we give life to a completely desolate planet with wind, stone, and dirt, and even if we manage that, what are we gonna do, live out our lives on the planet, all ten of us, only six of us are even Loric! I mean we could try the whole 'repopulate' thingy, but eventually everyone would be related to each other, that would be so weird and unnatural…I wouldn't be surprised if we start growing third eyes or something.

How the hell did the Elders expect us to restore Lorien, we're lucky if we survive through to the next month with all that's been going down lately.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked next to me, I jumped about a foot in the air and banged my head off the roof of the van, I was so into my thoughts that I didn't notice the kid crawl up into the front seat and sit beside me.

"Yah I'm good, just thinking some stuff out," I replied coolly.

"Don't worry about Tzila," Ella said, "I'm sure she'll forgive you for whatever you did, she's probably just PMSing or something, it happens."

I laughed at that, "Thanks kid, but I'm not sure that's entirely true in this case."

"Why? What did you say, it can't be that bad," she replied.

"I might have assumed her cepan had a simple death, it was rude and inconsiderate and I hate myself for it."

"Awe, Nine," Ella scolded, "I'm sure she'll get over it, I mean all of our pasts haven't exactly been a picnic, but if its that bad then she won't shun you forever, eventually she's gonna need you, and you better make sure you're there for her when the time comes."

"Thanks kid," I grinned at her as she yawned, "I'd have thought that with all that sleep you've had you'd be awake for weeks, but I guess that training took a lot out of you, get some sleep kiddo, you've definitely earned it."

Ella smiled lazily at me and adjusted her seatbelt before leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes, I smiled in spite of myself, the kid was right, the next time I saw Tzila I was gonna stay on my toes so whenever she needed someone to have her back, comfort her, anything really, I'd be there.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Five**

About six hours later Six took over for me, I crawled in the back and nodded off on the cool leather seats, my head rested against a massive rifle wit Ella curled up next to me.

The next thing I knew I was back in the room where I killed Sandor, only it was different, this time the door to the next room was open and for some reason I found myself walking through it. What I saw next floored me.

I entered another torture room, there was blood running into a drain on the floor, the walls and table covered in dried blood, the walls were lined with knives and daggers as long as my forearm and so short that the blade was as long as my pinkie finger, some were serrated, some dainty, some wickedly curved, all covered in dried blood. The person on the table looked horrible, she had shoulder long black hair matted with blood, she was wearing a black tank top and short black shorts both riddled with slashes, her skin was a deep tan marred with cuts, short, long, shallow, deep, in some areas it looked like the Mogs had just ripped off her skin like ripping off a Band-Aid, the girl on the table was horribly familiar, the girl on the table was Tzila. Her beautiful blue eyes were hollow, deep emotionless pits, she had blood at the corners of her mouth and splattered all over her face, she was surrounded in a halo of blood. I stood in shock staring at her prone body when a door on the far side of the room swung open.

"Are ya ready to talk now, Bitch," a mean looking Mog snarled as he slammed the door shut, "I almost hope you're not, I really enjoy cutting up your pretty little face."

He selected a short knife from his wall of horror and stalked over to Tzila; he grinned and trailed the point of the knife down the side of her face following the curve of her throat leaving a thin trail of red as he went.

"I'd have thought you'd have realized by now," Tzila rasped, "you aren't going to break me, you saw all my old scars, this isn't the first time I've been tortured, I didn't break then and I won't break now, there was only one way you stupid Mogs could have gotten me to talk and you burned that bridge the last time you captured me and cut me up for months," she spat a wad of spit and blood straight into his face.

"No sweetheart," the Mog growled back, wiping the blood off his face, "the way I heard it, you burned that bridge I believe."

Tzila's eyes went black, a cold heartless black, her hands started to shake as she gritted her teeth in anger.

"Now, now," the Mog chided, "None of that, you know it won't work," but even as he said it he took a nervous step back, words conveyed one message, but the edgy look in his eyes and the slight waver in his voice suggested another.

Tzila clenched her hands into fists, dark energy pulsed around her and the chain holding her down snapped open, she sat up on the table and stared at the Mog, his horrified eyes met hers and he tensed up, the next thing I knew he collapsed to his knees convulsing, his eyes flashed completely white before he went completely still.

"You shouldn't have said that," Tzila snarled, she opened her fists and the Mogs eyes immediately went back to normal, the energy surrounding her faded and disappeared.

"W-what did you do to me?" the Mog whimpered, shaking in terror on the ground.

"What, they didn't tell you who I was, or what I was capable of," Tzila smirked, "I'm a Shadowwalker, and that's what happens when I lose control, that little bit of power is called soul snatching, you've got about ten minutes before your organs fail, enjoy your last few minutes, asshole."

Tzila wiped the blood from her eyes and stalked over to the door the Mog came into, but not before he flung the little knife at her, slicing a deep cut from the corner of her mouth, over her right eye, and into her eyebrow.

"You dick," Tzila yelled, she grabbed a knife off the wall and plunged it down, straight down through his neck, he disintegrated to ash in her face, sticking to the blood, tears streaked through the ash and blood on her face, but her eyes were anything but sad, they glared out angrily, her grip on the knife turning her knuckles white, with a screech she whipped it at the wall driving the blade into the concrete. She wasn't done yet, with a scream she turned her face to the ceiling and thrust her arms upwards, creating massive fracture marks and causing chunks of concrete and dust to rain down around her. With a wail she collapsed to her knees and covered her face with her hands sobbing uncontrollably, I was so shocked I didn't notice the man coming up behind her until he had put an arm around her shoulders and was brushing the hair out of her eyes.

"Hush child, we must leave now," he whispered soothingly to her, "we must not delay, there is no time."

"Father," Tzila cried, softly now, "father what took you so long, three long months I've been here, letting that thing cut me, I restrained from using it as long as I could, you know I tried, why didn't you come earlier?"

"I'm sorry my dear child," the man whispered, "I was delayed, I couldn't come until now."

"Away with your precious garde again I presume," Tzila snarled, "I'm your daughter, you couldn't spare a couple days!"

She pushed him back and stood, angrily staring down at him, "I'm not that little eight year old girl you found covered in blood and ash anymore, I don't need you anymore."

She stormed out of the room eyes blazing with fire, the man hung his head and sighed, "I hope this showed you exactly how dangerous Tzila is," he looked and stared me right in the eye, "and how much you need her, although I recommend that in the future you respect your friends privacy a little more and allow them to tell you about their past when they wish to, instead of delving into their memories whenever you feel like it."

He waved his arm in front of me and I immediately jumped awake, covered in sweat and breathing heavily.

"Are you okay Nine?" Ella asked wearily, "You're really pale."

"I'm fine kiddo," I replied, still half asleep, "just had a bad dream."

"Awe," Six cooed from the front seat, "poor little Nine had a nightmare."

"Yes I did, sweetheart," I shot back; "can you come back and give me a hug to make me feel better."

"Nah I think I'll let Tzila comfort you," she said slyly, "oh wait, you scared her off with your ugly ass face."

"Where are we," I growled.

"Somewhere in Michigan," Six replied flatly, "You've been out almost 13 hours, I'm planning on stopping soon, I'm gonna pull over once we get to the more forested areas and we can set up camp out there."

"How much longer?" Ella asked tentatively.

"About ten minutes, sweetie," Si replied, her voice noticeably softer.

"Want me to wake the others up?" Ella enquired, sitting up in her seat.

"I think that would be best," Malcolm replied from the front seat.

Ella grinned and gently shook Marina, Sam, and Adam awake, then she pulled out her water bottle and dumped it over Johnny's head, he sputtered awake with his arms flailing around clipping me on the back of the head.

"Thanks Johnny," I said before smacking him on the back of the head, "it was the kid not me, although it was a sick move," I leaned over and gave Ella a fist prop which she accepted readily.

"We're going to stop in a little over five minutes," Six called back, "everybody get your crap together, we're spending the night camped out in the forest."

Everyone started grabbing their weapons and gear with Johnny grumbling about spending a cold night outside in wet clothes before lurching forward and grabbing Ella, tickling her mercilessly, this leading to those five minutes being filled with thrashing fists and feet, I don't think anyone in the back of the van escaped without at least a couple bruises.

After calming Ella and Johnny down we headed out into the forest, Six and I went around gathering some dry wood for a fire while Ella, Adam, Sam, Malcolm, and Johnny started setting up camp.

After walking a short distance from the camp Six and I came across an old maple tree that had fallen and began to decompose.

"Load me up," I told Six, I held my arms out as she snapped off branches and piled them on my arms.

We were silent as we worked, after Six finished putting the wood in my arms we worked at piling up more wood in separate piles with telekinesis, after making three massive piles Six broke the silence.

"So, what's up with you and Tzila," she asked, casting me a sidelong glance, I didn't say anything; I really wasn't in the mood for more teasing after my dream.

"I'm serious, not trying to ridicule you," she reassured me, "I'm just curious, I hate to admit it but I'm total shit with emotions, never really needed to learn anything about people when I was growing up, it was all just training and survival…"

"If it makes you feel better I'm not the best with emotions either, I mean anger, revenge, rage, and pain I'm familiar with but other then that," I laughed, "so I really don't know what's going on with Tzila and I what about you and Johnny boy."

She started for a moment before quickly averting her face, but not before I caught a smile and a little twinkle in her eyes that looked so un-Six-like nearly dropped my wood.

"I don't know," she said tentatively, "I mean he's a great guy and all, but so is Sam, just in a different way…I'm not sure who I like…"

"Well to be honest, I think I really like her, I'm more concerned with if she likes me back, she's just so focused and powerful…" I trailed off.

"I guess we're both just crap at relationships," Six laughed, "well we should probably get this back to the camp before the others freeze, you know it was nice to get that off my chest, hell that was the first time I've been in your company for a period of time over one minute and haven't felt and urge to rip your head off."

"That can be remedied," I joked as Six and I lifted the wood and started heading back.

"Don't you dare," Six tried to threaten as she laughed hysterically, "you know I've never had a brother, but this is how I think it would be like if I did."

"Well thanks, sis," I smiled.

"No prob', bro," she replied, we got back to the camp and dropped our load, Six immediately going over and setting up the fire, Johnny set his hands on fire and lit up the old wood.

Marina had pulled out the food and started slicing up a couple apples; she had a pile of cut veggies already beside her.

"I can't do this," I said suddenly, motioning to the meal, "do I look like a rabbit? Papa needs him some meat!"

Marina sighed, "as much as I'd love to prepare you some meat, I don't have any with me, and it wouldn't have lasted anyways."

"Oh don't worry 'bout gettin' some meat, I got this," I smiled.

Johnny groaned, "don't let him get some meat Rina, you'll regret it, trust me."

"Shut up Johnny," I moaned, "just because you didn't like it-ugh, forget it, I'm gonna go get me some meat."

I stalked off into the forest, once I was far enough away for the others not to over power my super hearing I tuned in to the sounds of the forest and began following the closest rabbit, about five minutes later I could see it, the little guy was a tad bit skinny but had enough meat on his bones for me, I pulled out a short knife and took careful aim, but just as I threw it he spooked, shooting off into the woods with my knife missing him by millimetres, he made it about three feet before a shining blue dagger shot next to my head and impaled him through the eye.

I whipped around pulling out my pipe staff and taking a defensive pose, shocked that someone had snuck up on me, I expected to be facing some sort of ninja Mog but was faced with someone else, personally I would have preferred the ninja Mog.

It was Tzila, her leather jacket, tank top, and Capri's were sliced up, her hair was a tangled mess, and she was covered in a sheet of ash and blood, what shocked me even more was the tear streaks on her cheeks that looked horrifyingly similar to the ones smudging her face in my dream. The next thing I knew I was crossing the short distance between us and pulling her into a hug, she tentatively put her arms around me eventually putting her face into my shoulder.

"Are you okay?" I whispered into her ear.

"Of course I am," she laughed, "why do you ask?"

"Do you want the nice answer, or the truthful one?" I asked, setting my chin on the top of her head.

"Truthful," she answered, "always the truthful"

"You look like shit," I smiled, "what happened to you?"

She laughed instantly, "what the hell do you think happened to me, I headed back and took on every Mog Setrakus Ra could gather up, which was a lot, I only got these little superficial wounds, I'll live."

"You should go see Marina or use a healing rock," I replied, slightly concerned for her.

"Why?" she asked obviously very confused.

"To get those cuts healed of course," I said, shocked that she wasn't thinking of getting any medical attention.

"Oh…" she replied, "I guess, I probably should, I'm just so used to toughing it out and letting it heal by itself."

"Well you don't have to do everything by yourself anymore Zila," I said firmly, "we can help you too," I stepped back and looked her in the eye, keeping my hands on her shoulders.

"I know," she smiled, "I guess I'm just not used to being able to rely on other people, hasn't exactly worked out well for me in the past...How about you go grab that rabbit and let me show you how a real hunter kills," she winked at me as her dagger flung through the air back into her hand.

"Oh really!?" I joked, how about we have a little competition, in ten minutes we meet back here, see who's the real hunter."

"Deal," she twisted her hand back and shoved me hard into the dirt, seconds later she and the rabbit were gone.

"Cheater!" I yelled out into the forest before hastily getting to my feet and starting to track me some rabbit, within minutes I had found my first victim, but as I brought my arm back to throw my knife a shadow dropped down from a tree and grabbed the rabbit, breaking its neck quickly and efficiently, it landed in a crouch and smiled at me, three fat rabbits already hanging on its belt, "You better get going!" Tzila yelled over to me, "there won't be any left for you soon!"

"Hey that one was mine," I replied, "cheaters never prosper!"

"I killed it, therefore it's my kill," she smirked before shooting off into the forest, "see ya in a few!"

By the end of the ten minutes I had six plump rabbits, crossing my fingers I slipped into the clearing that was our meeting space, Tzila wasn't there yet. Or so I thought, she dropped down right in front of me smirking slyly, in addition to the four rabbits clutched tightly in her hands she had three on each hip, "I win!" she smiled gleefully.

I don't know what about her made me do it, maybe it was her intoxicating smile, or the happiness filling her eyes, maybe it was her dangerous attitude, or her personality that reminded me so much of myself, but whatever it was doesn't matter, what does matter is the fact that I found myself dropping my rabbits and kissing her, she gasped in shock and dropped her catches too, she wasn't kissing back but she wasn't stopping me either, which should have comforted me, but all that was running through my mind when I pulled back and looked into those eyes that I loved so much was a over powering feeling of horror at what I just did and terror at the thought that I might lose her, I held my breath as she stared back at me, with those deep eyes that overwhelmed me completely, I realized that I was entirely helpless against this powerful Loric girl that had stolen my heart with a vicious efficiency.


End file.
